Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien set to make it three British players in world's top 100

When the new women's rankings are released on Monday, there should be three
British players in the world's top 100, with Elena Baltacha and Katie
O'Brien expected to join Anne Keothavong.

On the up: Elena Baltacha, seen here in action at Wimbledon, is poised to break into the world's top 100Photo: PA

By Mark Hodgkinson

7:53PM BST 27 Sep 2009

If Baltacha and O'Brien can maintain their positions until the end of the season, they will gain direct acceptance into the main draw of the next grand slam, January's Australian Open at Melbourne Park. Keothavong is unlikely to compete in Melbourne as she damaged a knee in California over the summer when she slammed into a fence on court, and has indicated that she will not return before February.

When Keothavong broke into the top 100 last season, she did so by winning a tournament in the Lebanese resort of Jounieh last May, while, just 10 miles down the road in Beirut, sectarian violence on the city's streets left more than 40 people dead. Baltacha and O'Brien earned the points to reach the top 100 in the more sedate setting of a tennis club in Shrewsbury in Shropshire, at a $75,000 (£47,000) tournament below main-tour level, with Baltacha beating O'Brien in the final.

"The top 100 is such a big psychological barrier," said Baltacha, the No 101 on last week's list, and a three-set winner over O'Brien, the No 103. "I feel like the pressure for points has lifted off me. From here on I'm going to be much more relaxed. I've proved to myself that I'm a top-100 player. Now that I've done it I'm still greedy and I know that it's not enough. Top 50 is the next obvious goal.

"For me the most important thing was to make the cut for the Aussie Open, almost more important than the top 100, and I've almost guaranteed that as well. Having three British players in the top 100 is going to be fantastic for British tennis."

The British men's doubles pairing of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski are expected to break into the top 100 this morning after reaching their first final on the main ATP Tour, at a tournament in Metz in France, where they yesterday played the French partnership of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.